SD Shad, Little Hawk,
I like your concepts of God, and most Christians I know would probably put forth some similar definition. As would anyone who has spiritual experiences as part of their lives, a condition that doesn't require belief in or membership in any religion. You don't, however, address the central core of Christianity, the bit that separates it from other religions or spiritual experiences. That is the concept of Christ itself, the idea that Christ died and was resurrected and somehow thereby cleansed us all of our sins. That's the part that leaves me behind, that requires "faith" or "belief" and doesn't make any sense to many of us in light of everything else we know about the world. And, it seems to me, this is a central belief that has to be present in order for someone to consider themselves a Christian.

Obviously, there are lots of other aspects of being a good Christian -- acts are more important than words, after all. It is hard to see how some the the hate-mongers can get away with calling themselves members of a religion that has love as one of its central tenets, but they do have the basic belief in the resurrection and divinity of Christ. Considering that, it is hard not call them Christians. It's just too bad they are so vocal, and so give all the rest of Christianity a bad name with people who tend toward bigotry themselves. And we're lucky they are such a small minority, or our legal code would be a very frightening place.

The Bible also clearly states that the only way to salvation is through belief in the divinity of Christ. Most denominations teach this as a basic concept. Again, most Christians I know don't have any use for that kind of balderdash, but they also know they are going against one of the basic tenets of their religion when they reject the idea. The basic arrogance of this belief is another reason why many non-Christians are put off by the whole religion. I know that most other religions teach a similar concept, but Christianity is the one that most of us have to put up with encroaching on our lives on a day-to-day basis (just to pull it back to the original subject of the thread).

John Peekstok